New York, New York!

And other great New York/New Jersey cities as well......

Our trip was great! Although I must say right from the start that it's a far different "vacation" when you have four kids in airports, cars, subways, and in tow, than when you plan a couples getaway, like Sean & I did five years ago. I'm home now and feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. But we had a fabulous time, so really there are no complaints.

Day 1: (Saturday) Flight from Salt Lake to Rochester, NY






- The kids' first time that they can remember flying. Pretty uneventful, except that I flew on the smallest plane I've ever been on, between Cincinnati and Rochester: two seats on one side of the aisle and one single seat on the other side.






- We arrived in Rochester and picked up our rental car: a Dodge Caravan minivan. Luggage & kids all fit just fine. Then we headed to Palmyra & Grandpa & Grandma.






- It was awesome to see my parents after 1 1/2 years! They're doing great as site directors at the Hill Cumorah visitor's center and other church history sites. We walked up to the top of the Hill, took pictures of the Angel Moroni statue, and looked down to where the pageant would take place hours later.




- Maddie & Megan, my brother Mark's two oldest girls (12 & 10), arrived just an hour or so before pageant started. They were in Palmyra the whole time we were; it was great for my kids to share experiences with cousins too!





- The pageant was absolutely wonderful! We would highly recommend the pageant experience to anyone!!

Day 2: (Sunday)
- After going to the Palmyra ward, which is a beautiful building across the street from the temple, we visited most of the church history sites.



The Palmyra temple


The rock wall that was built by Joseph Smith, his father and brothers. This is right by the temple.



The Smith family log home, where Joseph lived with his family when he received the First Vision. Also the home where the Angel Moroni appeared to him.




The nicer Smith family home which was begun by Joseph's older brother Alvin before his death. Alvin wanted to build a better home for his parents to grow old in. (This is the view from the back of the home.)



The Sacred Grove. A beautiful forest which is left untouched even today. What a wonderful spirit is there!



- We toured the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center. I think the kids' favorite part was the sample Book of Mormons in all the different languages, which are set out on a large round table. The kids were impressed that I could still read from the Portuguese one, with very authentic-sounding Brazilian accent (just ask them--they'll tell you what a pro I was). And I even translated what I read.


Day 3: (Monday)

We took Jamison & Raleigh to do baptisms for the dead in the beautiful Palmyra temple. It overlooks a view of the Smith property and the sacred grove. What a priceless experience!




- We drove about 30 minutes to see the Whitmer farm. This is where Joseph did some translating of the Book of Mormon, and also where the first church service was held on April 6, 1830. I didn't realize that the entire Whitmer family was involved in supporting the early church; the Whitmer daughters even married Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page.

- A visit to Palmyra wouldn't be complete (I found out) without going to the Wizard of Clay. It's an absolutely amazing store full of everything you can imagine, handmade from pottery. It was a terribly hard decision to pick something. I finally decided on a beautiful casserole dish, which can double as a bread pan or serving dish.



- Grandpa took us all fishing at a couple of ponds on church property close by. Everyone caught at least one large-mouth bass. We did all catch-and-release that day, to the kids' disappointment. Maddie & Megan caught their first fish ever!





- We visited the famous Chill & Grill restaurant, where we ate hamburgers, fries, and LOTS of ice cream! Cheapest ice cream I know of--the bill for double scoop ice cream cones for all 10 of us was about $12. We liked it so much, we had to go again as we drove out of Palmyra on Wednesday.

Day 4: (Tuesday)




- Niagara Falls! It's only about 2 hours from Palmyra--well worth the drive. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat, which took us out to see both sets of falls. Good thing they handed us ponchos before getting on the boat; as soon as we had them in hand, the rain began. Those ponchos came in handy the whole rest of the day at Niagara Falls, since the rain kept on coming.



- After spending a small fortune on lunch, the kids were wet and basically wanted to turn around and go back to Palmyra, but Sean wasn't going to spend 2 hours in the car for an hour at the falls! He convinced everyone to walk over to Goat Island, which is out in the middle of the Niagara River, in between the two sets of falls. It rained the whole way, which wasn't too bad except for our feet. Squishy, wet shoes weren't very comfortable. The complaining wasn't too bad--and we kept reminding the kids that our Niagara Falls experience was becoming even more memorable!




- Our last evening with Grandpa & Grandma was spent shopping for plane treats for Maddie & Megan and car treats for the rest of us, at Wegman's store. We completed some laundry and packed up for the next day.




Day 5: (Wednesday)


- Grandpa & Grandma took Maddie & Megan to the airport early, while we finished packing. Then we said goodbye, glad that we'll see Grandpa & Grandma home in about 6 months, and started the 5 1/2 hour drive to Shamong, New Jersey, where my sister Michelle, her husband Steve, and their three kids (Sally, Adri, & Weston) live. The drive is mostly hills and trees. Lots of trees. We skirted Philadelphia on our way through Pennsylvania. We took our time, and arrived about 6:00 pm.

- We stayed that night with Michelle, Steve, & family. They have a wonderful house in a great neighborhood, all with 1+ acre lots, and surrounded by farmland. It was fun to see where they've been for a year, with one more to go (Steve is a dentist for the Air Force).

Day 6: (Thursday)

- Welcome to the Big Apple! We drove to Staten Island and left the minivan in an overnight parking lot. Then we were off to see the city. We did have one frustration as we went to buy Metro tickets for the six of us after getting off the ferry. After buying two tickets, the machine wouldn't take our credit card anymore. Who would have guessed that the limit for buying subway passes is TWO per DAY per CARD?! Obviously, New York is not set up for family travel! We eventually bought the rest using cash and a different credit card.



First stop: the Empire State Building. Lines weren't bad--we'd bought our tickets online before leaving home, which helped. It was awesome to see the city from all angles from 86 floors up!

- We checked into our hotel and left our backpacks in the room. The Fairfield Marriott Times Square upgraded our room to a penthouse suite--it doesn't hurt to be a travel agent!--32 floors up. Nice view. Nice room, although we didn't spend a lot of time there.

- Raining. I tried calling Yankee Stadium to see if our game was sold out, got no useful info, so figured it was still on. Off we went.

- So far this travelogue says nothing about the difficulty of having a 7-yr. old walk as far as we'd gone thus far. Although we were taking as many subways as we possibly could, there is a LOT of walking in New York. Even the walk from our hotel to the subway we took most often was 3-4 blocks. And the subway tunnels and stairs seem endless sometimes. It often felt like we walked farther underground to get to the train we needed, than we walked above ground to enter the underground subway system. Sometime during the waiting & walking at the Empire State Building, Sabra asked, "Why couldn't we just stay and play with Sally and Adri?" Obviously, her parents' idea of a once-in-a-lifetime experience was not the same as hers. They really need to make a stroller big enough for a 7-yr. old.

- And while I'm editorializing, I need to also say a word about the stress of taking four children through the streets and subways of a city with over 8 million inhabitants. Sean usually was the point man out in front, followed closely by Jamison. Raleigh was usually somewhere behind Jamison, Tristan alternated between walking in front of me and behind me, and Sabra was most often holding Mom's hand. I tried to be the caboose whenever I could, so I could keep my eye on everyone. Getting onto the subway trains was probably the worst, although I found if I was always the final one on, it helped my stress levels considerably.




- Yankee Stadium!



It's the inaguarual season of their brand-new stadium. The new stadium is beautiful, and our seats were great--in the bottom section next to the third base side, only 20+ rows from the field. Wonderful! We had time to wander and eat...and then more time to wander and eat...and then MORE time to wander and eat. The game was scheduled to start at 7 pm, and eventually started at nearly 10. We had a great time, and were so glad we'd waited for it to start! The Yankees played the Oakland A's, and, happily, won, 6-3.



We left after the 5th inning, when the score was 4-3, and got back to our hotel at 12:30 am. Long but fun day.

Day 7: (Friday)



- Statue of Liberty: we didn't go inside, just took the ferry to Liberty Island and walked around taking pictures.



- Ground Zero - a relatively short walk from Battery Park where we exited the ferry. Five years ago it actually looked like Ground Zero: a huge chain link fence surrounded a wide open expanse of dirt. Signs around the chain link fence recounted the details of 9/11. Now it just looks like a construction site surrounded by a chain link fence. I'm sure it'll be a wonderful memorial when it's finished, but currently it's not much to write home about.



- We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. On the Brooklyn side is a superb pizza place, Grimaldi's. We just had to try the pizza. Definitely worth it.

- Chinatown, and buying souvenirs for the kids.



- American Girl doll store. Sabra got a Just Like You doll (blonde hair, blue eyes), and Raleigh got the new Rebecca doll (born 1914). I have to admit, if I hadn't been buying dolls for my girls I'd have been tempted to get one myself. The girls are already talking about going back with their dolls so they can visit the doll beauty parlor, and maybe getting their (the dolls') ears pierced.

- Times Square, including the ginormous Toys R Us store. A must-see for everyone.

- Dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Times Square.



- Ferry back to Staten Island as the sun set. Goodbye, New York City! Drive back to Michelle & Steve's.


Day 8: (Saturday)





- Beach day. We went with Michelle & Steve to Long Beach Island, Surf City. Michelle got us the fabulous sandwiches from Wawa for lunch. Everyone had a great time. Who doesn't love the beach??

- Steve, Michelle, Sean & I left our kids babysitting theirs and went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert. Both dinner and dessert were fabulous!

Day 9: (Sunday)



- We had a nonstop flight home from Newark that evening. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:15, but didn't get off the ground till about 7 pm because of rain. So our 5-hour flight turned into seven hours on the plane, but we did eventually make it home. Ahhh, home sweet home.